Ian Woods - Questions and Answers

Name? Ian Woods

Age? 39

Where are you from? Belfast

How did you get started in Broadcasting? University Radio Warwick, which was a great opportunity to interview leading politicians/actors/musicians. It led to a part time job with Coventry’s Independent Local Radio Station Mercia Sound. That in turn led to a full-time job at Mercia.

When was that? 1982.

Why news broadcasting? At school, there were only two things I was any good at — acting, and turning whatever I could remember about a subject into a concise readable essay. Broadcast journalism is part writing/part acting. Condensing the most important facts and presenting them in a watchable way. Every day I’m aware what a great job I have…seeing history in the making, and being paid to travel the world.

Where else would have viewers seen or heard you before? I worked as a BBC TV reporter in the Midlands and London in the late eighties and early nineties, and presented East Midlands Today for five years. No-one will remember this – but in 1986 I appeared on the game show Bob’s Full House with Bob Monkhouse. And no, I didn’t win!

What is your Best on-air moment? My favourite moments tend to be from early in my career, when it was still a thrill to meet the good and the great. A live interview on student radio with Bob Geldof, and a radio interview with Muhammad Ali stick in my mind. And best of all….live commentary at Wembley Stadium as my adopted team Coventry City won the FA Cup in 1987. …Brian Kilcline climbs the steps to the Royal Box, the Duchess of Kent is waiting with Sky Blue ribbons on the Cup…blah blah I had tears in my eyes! My first studio interview with then Prime Minister John Major was also enjoyable at the time.

What is your Worst on-air moment? Shhh…don’t tell anyone…being a bit drunk while reading a sports report on local radio 20 years ago. I kept pressing the wrong buttons. Someone telephoned to complain, and I took the call….

What would like to do before your career ends? Say Ian Woods, Sky News, On the Lunar Surface Or I’d just settle for a few orbits of Earth. I wish I’d been born 100 years later when space travel may be open to all.

What do you like to do in your spare time? Watch movies, and play golf and the guitar badly.

What advice would you give to anyone that would like to get into the broadcasting world? Be prepared to work for nothing until the people you’re working for realise they can’t afford NOT to give you a job.

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